Supply chain reforms accelerate as new standards and regulations target modern slavery

Companies are increasingly integrating international standards like ISO 37200 and responding to regulatory pushes to manage modern slavery risks within complex global supply chains, amid ongoing challenges and implementation gaps.

Efforts to manage supply‑chain risk have moved from a niche compliance task to a central component of environmental, social and governance strategies, as companies confront the reputational and operational fallout of human rights abuses in t...

heir supplier networks. Pressure from consumers, investors, NGOs and advocacy groups has accelerated corporate attention to modern slavery and other labour‑related harms, with firms increasingly treating these issues as material to both risk mitigation and brand value.

According to Speeki, an emerging technical response is the introduction of ISO 37200, a new international standard designed to replace the UK’s BS 25700 for managing modern slavery risk. The standard aims to give organisations a common framework for identifying and preventing exploitation across procurement and supplier management processes. Companies are being urged to embed human‑rights criteria into supplier selection, monitoring and contractual terms to reduce the likelihood of disruption stemming from a supplier’s abusive practices.

The scale of the challenge is large and geographically uneven. PwC notes that the Asia‑Pacific region accounts for roughly 43% of the global general manufactured goods market, making its complex supply chains particularly exposed to labour risks such as low‑skilled employment and migrant worker vulnerabilities. PwC also warns that geopolitical tensions and moves toward economic decoupling heighten the difficulty of managing human‑rights exposure across borders.

Industry reporting and advocacy groups highlight gaps between stated commitments and on‑the‑ground progress. ESG Dive summarises a Gartner survey finding that while 71% of sustainable procurement leaders regard modern slavery as important, only about half believe they are making effective strides to address it. The article also cites global estimates that around 50 million people are living in conditions of forced labour, underscoring the persistence and pervasiveness of the problem.

Policy developments are pushing firms toward more robust, legally backed action. Impact International points to the European Union’s proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and argues for binding international standards, stronger local enforcement and meaningful corporate due diligence to close existing accountability gaps. Such regulatory moves would formalise expectations for risk assessment, remediation and disclosure across multinational supply chains.

Several large companies publish detailed anti‑slavery statements and explain the steps they take. Sage, for example, describes its collaboration with EcoVadis to evaluate suppliers’ sustainability practices and places ultimate responsibility for these matters with its executive leadership. Samsonite outlines procedures including supplier self‑assessment questionnaires and compliance audits, and specifies actions the company says it will take when modern slavery is detected. These corporate disclosures, however, should be read as company representations rather than independent verification.

Experts and practitioners say meaningful progress requires integrating human‑rights due diligence into enterprise risk frameworks, investing in supplier capacity building, and prioritising transparency and third‑party verification. Practical tools include risk mapping, contractual clauses requiring remediation, independent audits, and worker‑centric grievance mechanisms. Where audits are used, analysts caution they must be combined with ongoing engagement and local knowledge to avoid superficial compliance.

As stakeholders demand higher standards, the interplay of new international norms, regional regulation and corporate practice will determine whether supply chains become less hospitable to exploitation. The combination of binding rules, standardised approaches such as ISO 37200, and sustained corporate governance focus offers a pathway, but industry data and surveys suggest organisations still face a substantial implementation gap. Without sustained effort from regulators, companies and civil society, human‑rights risks will remain a salient and unresolved feature of global commerce.

Source: Noah Wire Services